CC&R's, HOA Docs and Association Info on Property Purchase

Hello all,

I am new to the board and am looking for suggestions on how to approach the Management Company and Condo Association for a condo I am looking to purchase as a 2nd residence.

I am working with a real estate agent and neither my agent nor the listing agent have not been able to access the CC&R's or the bylaws on the association. Through some of my own work and digging, I was able to locate the Pennsylvania legal entity XXXXXXX Association, LLC for the homeowners association, but it looks like the Pennsylvania XXXXXXX Association, LLC is being controlled by a property management company under another name/alias in the state of NJ (based on court records I was able to access). I am not 100% sure who has Declarant rights on the property right now or how I might be able to look that up. My assumption is that the management company may have all of the control right now?

I contacted the property management company requesting the information as a prospective buyer, but I did not receive a call back or any correspondence from them yet. My real estate agent was also checking, but she has been getting the run around as well. I am really interested in the property, but it does not seem like there is something not right here.

Three of the units in the property were sold in 2008 and one sold in 2009. I Assume that the 7 year clock starts ticking after the first sale, which occurred in October of 2008, meaning the Developer Declarant must transfer rights to the association by 2015... However, I am not sure that has happened yet?

There are 10 units in the property, which consist of the following:

3 units owned by LLC of developer (who is renting them out)
1 unit owned by another LLC - can't seem to locate a name or individual attached to the property but do have the LLC name and address that is active
2 units in Foreclosure proceedings - 1 of which I am looking to purchase
1-2 Owner Occupants (One of whom is currently doing all maintenance and watching over property, as I am told by realtor)
~2 Renters.

I have been able to locate some of the owner occupants phone numbers as well as a real estate agent who had listed a few of the properties for rent and am waiting to hear back. What other actions may I take to get to the bottom of this and find out that the CC&R's are, if there are any association by-laws, etc??

My worry is that if I purchase the property I may not know who has control of the association -- which can lead to issues down the road. I have heard horror stories of poorly managed associations and individuals who unethically conduct business and do illegal things. Being business professional, I want to make sure that things are on the up and up!

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, as I feel like I am running out of options!!

Regards,
Randy

Well, you can't access the documents until you are an owner.

However, the CC&Rs and Master Deed should be on file at the local court house or records office.
Tell your Realtor to make a trip and get it for you.

You don't say if your buying the property from the Bank or from an owner.
If you have not finalized the buying contract, add into it that you have three (I prefer 5) days to review the CC&Rs which must be provided by the seller. However, I doubt if the Bank will have that (or care to try and get it for you).

If you have finalized the contract, looking at the documents now without a clause to allow you to break the contract if you don't like it will be informative but irrelevant to the deal you entered into.

Again, public documents are available from the County Courthouse or Records Office.

Thanks Tim.... Good thing I didn't put in an offer yet! The property is actually being purchased from the Bank and not the owner. It was foreclosed on and is now bank owned. I will make sure that if I put in an offer I will include a clause allowing me time to review the CC&Rs and other items...

I have also located the Attorney's name that represents the association as well as several residents who I have called and emailed. Hoping to hear back from some of them later today.

Randy,

The issue that would be most concerning to me is that you identified the condo association as an LLC, instead of a non-profit corporation. LLC's are a variety of corporations that typically have a static management structure without provisions for directors or elections for directors. I am not even sure that they are required to have any sort of bylaws.

My first guess is that you may be mistaken by confusing the name of the condo association with the name of the management company. There is no problem with the management company being an LLC but having an LLC for an association is highly unusual.

As part of your due diligence I suggest obtaining a copy of the condo declaration from whatever county or city office records deeds. The declaration should name the condo association.

From the information you supplied, however, my best advice is to look elsewhere. This is a troubled development with way to many non-resident owners.

It's simple: you make an offer contingent on receiving the documents within N days and information you request, you agree to release the contingency or withdraw within a few days of receiving the information.

Maybe the real estate agent will do some groundwork to move this along, maybe he has no influence.

By the way- do no accept anything communicated second hand.